Strike Witches: 1982
by UKGriffon
Summary: The year is 1982 and the Neuroi have suddenly reappeared in the South Atlantic. A multinational team of witches has been newly formed and sent to Neue Karlsland to help strike back at the Neuroi threat. Join the 710th JFW, or the 'Fearless Witches', in their mission to take back the Falkland Islands from the Neuroi and reclaim the South Atlantic for humanity. Rated T


**Strike Witches: 1982**

 **Chapter One: The 'Fearless Witches'**

* * *

 ** _Sealion II,_**

 **South Atlantic Ocean,**

 **Near the Falkland Islands,**

 **April 1982**

The tiny boat tossed and turned in the waves, fighting the currents as it came to a rest. The poor weather conditions didn't worry the captain of this boat however, he had been a sailor in the Second World War and the heavy waves and steady drizzle had become nothing more than a mild inconvenience to him. The same could not be said for the other occupants of the boat however, two teenagers who stumbled with every step aboard the small vessel, their stomachs ready to return their breakfasts to the world,

"You two alright back there, lads?" The old captain yelled to the two teenagers,

"About as alright as I can be, Mr Hastings." One of them replied,

"Ha! Good to hear," Mr Hastings replied, "What about your friend?"

"He's, uh, well," he was interrupted by the sound of vomiting, "Yeah, he's not feeling great."

"Oh, he'll soon get used to it," Mr Hastings laughed, "We all do in the end,"

The skies had begun to darken over the boat and the waves began to calm down, leaving the ocean to appear seemingly flat,

"Well that's strange..." Mr Hastings muttered,

"What's strange?"

"This weather, lad, have you ever seen anything like it?"

The teenager studied the skies and the sea for moment,

"Can't say that I have, it's too quiet and calm."

Mr Hastings nodded, "Far too quiet..."

"Hey, what's that?" The teenager asked, pointing upwards. Mr Hastings' eyes followed the lad's pointing hand and settled upon a red, crystal like object floating in the now black sky,

"Do me a favour, lad and pass me my binoculars,"

The teenager hurriedly grabbed a pair of old binoculars from a box on deck and threw them to Mr Hastings who caught them and quickly brought them up to his eyes,

"My god, no...no it can't be..."

"What is it Mr Hastings?" The teenager asked,

He didn't recieve a response,

"Mr Hastings?" He asked again,

"Get on that radio, lad and get Port Stanley on the line," Mr Hastings finally replied,

"Tell them...tell them that the Neuroi are back."

* * *

 **Port Stanley,**

 **Falkland Islands,**

 **April 1982**

Captain Henderson stirred his tea lazily, his slow actions mimicking the snails pace at which the day had been advancing. He was really beginning to regret taking the role of commander for the Royal Marines unit based in these god forsaken islands. He could have been in some tropical jungle somewhere, or on a beach somewhere else, training to fight the bloody Orussian military,

"Sir!" A voice yelled as his office door swung open with considerable force,

"Jesus, Blackburn, any harder and that door would have came off of its hinges." Henderson joked,

"Nevermind the door, sir, the port's just received a rather worrying message from a ship named the 'Sealion II'." Sergeant Blackburn replied, breathless,

"The Sealion II, eh?" Henderson thought aloud, "That's Hastings's boat isn't it?"

"Yes sir."

"Then I can't see what could be so worrying about that message," Henderson replied, "Hastings rarely runs into trouble when he's at sea, the man's born to be out there."

"You should probably read the message then, sir." Blackburn said, holding out a folded sheet of paper towards the Royal Marines captain, who took it carefully and slowly unfolded it before reading.

"Neuroi hive sighted off the coast of the Falklands?" Henderson scoffed, "Sergeant, are you sure that this isn't a joke?"

"Yes sir."

"Are you one hundred percent sure, Sergeant?" Henderson asked, "Because there is no way on God's green earth that a Neuroi hive would form this far south. It's too cold for the buggers."

"I'm one hundred percent sure, sir," Blackburn replied, "Some of the locals here in Stanley have reported what looks like a tower of black clouds off in the distance."

"Could be a sinking ship." Henderson replied,

"We haven't recieved any radio transmissions from ships in the area for a while now and radar hasn't picked anything up either."

"Well of course radar isn't going to pick it up, it can't detect anything below surface level."

"Then why would there be smoke, sir? A sunken ship can't give off smoke." Blackburn replied,

"Burning oil, sergeant?" Henderson said, now visibly annoyed, "Look, the point I'm trying to make, sergeant, is that there probably isn't a Neuroi hive anywhere near the Falkland Islands. Hastings is known to be a alcoholic so chances are he's just drunk at the helm, which is probably illegal,"

No sooner than he had finished what he had been saying, Henderson was startled by the wail of an air raid siren which was quickly followed by a quiet explosion,

"Shit," Henderson muttered, the blood draining from his face, "Blackburn, tell the radio room to contact London and tell them what's happening here and get Sergeant Williamson to start evacuating people."

"Sir." Blackburn saluted before leaving the office,

Henderson collapsed into his chair, shocked, with millions of thoughts now running through his head,

There was no way that the Neuroi could survive down here, the weather was too extreme for them.

How was he going to get the islanders to safety?

How could they defend against them?

What were they going to do?

"Dammit, Nick, get your shit together," he muttered, "You're a marine, you don't worry about shit like this."

He climbed out of his chair and unholstered his handgun, pausing for a moment to check it's ammo. He walked towards the office door and slowly opened it. This was it. His first encounter with the Neuroi. Humanity's first since Vietnam.

It was now up to him to ensure the safety of the islanders.

Neuroi be damned.

* * *

 **A Few Weeks Later,**

 **Kaltefeldstadt Air Force Base,**

 **Southern Neue Karlsland**

A cold wind swept across the airfield, disturbing the falling snow momentarily before dissipating, allowing the light snowfall to resume it's regular pattern. Had anybody been outside, they'd have felt the freezing South Atlantic air rush through them, removing any heat they had left within them. Inside the base, a Karlander witch carried a set of boxes through the deserted corridors towards the commander's office which she shared with the base's only other inhabitant,

"Hey, Erika, mind giving me a hand with these boxes?" The brown haired Karlander asked, swinging the office door open,

"Sure," A blonde Karlslander replied, leaving her desk and taking two of the boxes, "Jesus, Viktoria, how are these so damn heavy?"

"Oh, those two are filled to the brim with paperwork and office supplies." Viktoria responded, placing her own box onto the desk,

"And that one?" Erika asked, placing her own boxes onto the desk,

"Dossiers," Viktoria replied with a grin, "Looks like command has decided who gets to join the 710th."

"Nice," Erika said as she opened the box and examined the top two files, "Looks like it's going to be an international squadron," she passed the files to Viktoria, "These two are Britannian and the next two are from Liberion."

Viktoria examined the two files before her, the first file held a picture of a Britannian teenager, which the dossier listed as being 16, in a blue Britannian RAF uniform who had long, dark brown hair and green eyes,

"Lieutenant Katheryn Donaldson, Britannian Royal Air Force, from some city called Newcastle," She read aloud, "She's got a Tornado GR.1 striker and can teleport short distances too."

"Huh, pretty cool," Erika replied, "What's her familiar?"

"Uh, let me see, ah-ha," Viktoria said, "An Alsatian, she seems to prefer mid-ranged combat too as she uses an L1A1 SLR."

"What about the other one?"

Viktoria studied the other document for a few seconds before reciting its contents. The file contained a picture of a similarly aged teenager in the same uniform, however she had long light brown hair and green eyes,

"Lieutenant Eliza Fairburn, Britannian Royal Air Force, seems to be from a place called Chester, she uses a Sea Harrier striker and uses an FN Minimi. Her familiar is a puma, which really contrasts with her magic ability."

"Which is?" Erika interrupted,

"Take a guess."

"Super speed?"

"Nope."

"Invisibility?"

"Nah."

"Agility?"

"Not even close."

"Alright, I give up, what is it?"

"Healing." Viktoria replied with a smirk,

"You're joking!" Erika chuckled,

"One hundred percent serious." Viktoria replied, grinning,

"To be fair though, your familiar doesn't really 'match up' with you, does it?"

"What do you mean by that?" Viktoria asked, slightly confused,

"Well your last name is ' _Baer_ ', right?"

"Right."

"Yet your familiar is a wolf, not a bear."

"Oh yeah, that doesn't match, does it?"

"Nope." Erika replied, grinning slightly,

"Well, not all of are blessed with a matching surname and familiar, Miss _von Falke_?"

"Yeah, whatever," Erika replied, grinning, "You're just jealous."

"You wish," Viktoria told her, "Anyway, what about the next two dossiers?"

Erika opened the first file and studied its contents, attached to the file was a picture of an 18 year old blonde haired, blue eyed Liberion. She wore the dark blue uniform of the Liberion Air Force,

"Major Charlotte Clark, Liberion Air Force, born in Houston," she read aloud, "Holy shit, she uses an A-10 striker!"

"Really?" Viktoria asked, "Damn, we're going to have some serious ground attack capabilities."

"I know right?" Erika responded before continuing, "Anyway, she's got an M240b and her ability makes her stronger than most other witches. Oh and get this."

"What?"

"Her familiar's a bear."

"Oh, for god's sake."

"Heh, anyway, moving on," Erika picked up the next document and opened it to reveal a picture of a 17 year old Liberion witch, also wearing the USLAF's dark blue uniform, however, unlike her comrade, she had black hair, brown eyes and a slightly tanned complexion,

"Captain Ellie Ramirez, USLAF, a native of Los Angeles, uses an F-14 striker, an M16, her ability allows her to have limited control over the speed and power of her bullets for a short period of time and her familiar is the golden eagle."

"Quite patriotic."

"Right?"

Viktoria reached into the box again and pulled out two more dossiers, handing one of them to her second in command. Opening her document revealed an image of a dark-haired 17 year old Farawaylander in a blue FAF uniform, a pair of sunglasses poking out of one of it's pockets,

Reading aloud, she said, "Captain Justine Parker, Royal Farawayland Air Force, born in Montreal, Farawayland, great, she'll be no stranger to the cold, she uses a... CF-18 Hornet striker, weird, I didn't know that Farawayland had Hornets, and an FN MAG light machine gun, her familiar is a fox and her magic ability is night vision, bizarrely enough."

"How's that weird?" Erika asked, looking up from the dossier she was reading,

"Well, you'd expect somebody with a night vision ability to be a night witch or have a cat-based familiar, but from the looks of she isn't a night witch and obviously her familiar is a type of dog."

Erika shrugged, "Well, something's just don't line up like that, I mean, look at your last name and familiar combination."

"True," Viktoria replied, "Anyway, what about our last member?"

Erika passed the document to her commander who opened it to reveal an image of a 16 year old Gallian witch with light brown hair and green eyes,

"Lieutenant Lucie Victoire, Gallian Armée de l'Air, a resident of Bordeaux, uses a Mirage 2000 striker and a FAMAS assault rifle, obviously a fan of short ranged combat. Her familiar is a panther and her magic ability is an EMP." Viktoria read,

"Pretty cool right?" Erika asked excited, "I've never seen somebody use an EMP in person. It's gonna be so cool!"

"Eh, it's pretty underwhelming," Viktoria replied, "There's a flash and Neuroi stop working for a bit."

"Still, though," Erika said, still excited, "That's pretty cool."

"If you think so."

There was a moment of silence between the two before Erika noticed another file in the box,

"Hey, there's another dossier in here."

"What does it say?" Viktoria asked,

Erika skimmed through the document,

"Not much, the only interesting things about it are the fact that it tells us when the rest of the squadron will arrive and our squadron nickname. Looks as though they've decided to call us the 'Fearless Witches', sounds badass."

"The 'Fearless Witches'?" Viktoria chuckled, "Really?"

"By the looks of things, yeah." Erika replied, doing the same,

"Damn, anyway, when does it say the rest of the squadron are arriving?"

Erika glanced down at the document, "We should expect two aircraft by the end of the week, one with the witches and the other with their strikers and gear."

"Great, can't wait to see how the Neuroi feel about the 'Fearless Witches', right?"

"Right!"

* * *

 **A Few Days Later,**

 **Neue Karlsland**

Two RAF C-130s powered through the freezing Patagonian air, keeping in close formation to one another. The temperatures inside the aircraft practically mirrored those outside, causing bitter misery to the crew and passengers within them,

"Jesus Christ," Katheryn muttered, trying to find extra warmth within her DPM jacket, "How is it this damn cold, we're it's April for God's sake."

"At least you've got that damn jacket, Limey," Charlotte yelled from the other end of the plane, "Some of us have to sit in our dress uniforms."

"And by 'some of us', you mean yourself, right?" Justine asked, chuckling,

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I wasn't told that it would be this cold, alright," Charlotte said, "Plus, I didn't realise that our bags would be going into another plane, I would have brought my coat if I knew."

"Somehow, I doubt that."

"Suit yourself."

There was a moment of silence, pierced only by the sound of the roaring wind outside of the aircraft and by somebody's annoyingly loud snoring,

"Jeez, do you think we should wake sleeping beauty over there?" Ellie asked,

"Nah," Katheryn answered, "We've still got quite a while until we reach Kaltefeldstadt, let her have her sleep."

"Did anybody catch her name?" Eliza asked,

"Yeah, I think she's called Lucie," Ellie replied, "Or something like that, anyway."

"She's Gallian, right?" Katheryn asked,

"I think so," Ellie told her, "I hope she can speak Britannian."

"Yeah, I really doubt that they'd send a non-Britannian speaker to a mostly Liberion-Britannian squadron." Charlotte answered, a hint of sarcasm in her voice,

"Even so," Justine said, "I'm bilingual so I think we're good."

"Huh, neat."

Before the squadron's conversation could continue, one of the C-130s crew members poked his head out of the cockpit,

"Sorry to interrupt you, ladies," he said with a strong Scouse accent, "But we're coming in to land in a moment so I'd recommend putting on your seatbelts."

"Well, so much for leaving sleeping beauty alone." Katheryn muttered, shaking the sleeping Gallian teenager slightly as the rest of the squadron fastened their seatbelts,

" _Je suis réveillé, je suis réveillé, mon Dieu..._ "

"Hey, we're coming in for landing, you should probably fasten your seatbelt."

"What?" Lucie asked, tired, "Oh right, seatbelts. How long was I asleep for?"

"Since we left Gran Columbia, so a few hours, give or take." Eliza told her,

"Yeah, we tried to follow your lead but it was way too cold and noisy," Katheryn added, "I don't know how you manage to sleep in this damn thing."

"Guess I'm just a heavy sleeper." Lucie replied, smiling at her fellow witch and receiving a smile back,

"And a heavy snorer, too." Charlotte muttered getting a laugh from the other witches and an embarrassed blush from Lucie,

The two aircraft began their descend onto Kaltefeldstadt's only runway, landing one after the other near perfectly in the face of the harsh winds attacking the base. They taxied over to two of the base's hangars which opened as they neared the doors. After the plane carrying the witches was safely inside, the huge doors closed behind it, protecting it from the elements.

The witches grabbed what little bags they had brought onto the aircraft and disembarked it via the C-130's loading ramp,

"God, it's even colder in here then it is on the plane." Charlotte muttered, rubbing her hands together,

"Well, you should have brought a coat with you." Justine replied, grinning,

"Fuck off."

"Hey, they must be our commanders." Eliza interrupted, pointing to the two Karlslanders approaching the group, one of them was slightly taller than the other with long blonde hair which contrasted with her fellow witch's darker brown hair. The dark haired one wore glasses and the two of them wore the distinctive flecktarn uniforms of the Karlslander military.

"So, it's a Karlslander lead squadron." Katheryn stated,

"Apparently so." Ellie replied,

"Knowing the reputation that the Karlslanders have, I've got to admit, I'm a little worried about this." Eliza said,

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine." Lucie reassured her,

"Let's hope so, I didn't come all the way from Montreal to be yelled at be some stuck up Karlslanders." Justine muttered.

* * *

"That must be them."

"Finally, I was starting to get bored of waiting."

The two commanders emerged from their building and made their way over to the hangar in which the first aircraft (the one they decided must have been carrying the witches) had taxied into.

Pushing open the side door of the hangar, they immediately noticed the group of witches stood nearby the parked aircraft.

Within this group, they could easily identify each member of their squadron, even without their dress uniforms on (with the exception of one individual).

Two of the group wore a DPM patterned uniform, one wore the the distinctive white medic armband while both of them wore a blue-grey beret with a cap badge. The darker haired of the two they decided was Katheryn and the lighter haired witch they assumed was Eliza.

The next witch was dressed in the same uniform as the two Britannian witches but a Farawayland flag replaced the Britannian flag found on the sleeves. This, combined with her slight height advantage over the Britannians, her long dark hair and signature sunglasses, marked her as Justine.

Next to her was a smaller witch with lighter hair, wearing a 'Lizard' camouflage patterned uniform characteristic of the Gallian military. Evidently, this was Lucie.

The next two witches they assumed, via the process of elimination, to be the Liberion members of their squadron. One of them wore the M81 Woodland Pattern uniform that was becoming increasingly common in the Liberion military while the other seemed to be wearing her dress uniform and was predictably suffering from the cold as a result. Judging by the camouflaged witch's dark hair they assumed that she was Ellie and the blonde hair of the shivering witch identified her as Charlotte.

"Looks like they've notice us." Erika pointed out, nodding to Eliza,

"Well, let's hope we made a good first impression." Viktoria joked,

"With our walking?" Erika snorted,

"Yep."

"Heh."

As they neared the aircraft, the group of witches beside it hurriedly formed a line and saluted the two Karlslanders as they arrived,

"No need to salute us, ladies." Erika said to the group who awkwardly lowered their saluting arms,

"Are you sure?" Lucie asked, lowering her hand,

"Yeah," Viktoria answered, "We may be a rank or two above you guys but we don't really need saluting."

"We do the same jobs as you guys just with more paperwork so there might as well be no rank difference, anyway." Erika added,

"Fair enough," Justine said, "Not particularly keen on saluting, anyway."

Viktoria smiled in response, "What ever floats your boat, I guess. Now that that's out the way I'd like to introduce myself, Colonel Viktoria Baer, Karlslander Luftwaffe. Although you can just call me Viktoria."

"And I'm Lieutenant Colonel Erika von Falke, also from the Karlslander Luftwaffe and I also prefer people to use my first name."

"I feel as though we should introduce ourselves, too." Ellie said, receiving several nods of a agreement from the rest of the squadron,

"Then go ahead." Viktoria said,

"Alright, Captain Ellie Ramirez, Liberion Air Force."

"Major Charlotte Clark, also Liberion Air Force."

"Lieutenant Lucie Victoire, Gallian Armée de l'Air."

"Captain Justine Parker, Farawayland Air Force."

"Lieutenant Eliza Fairburn, Britannian RAF."

"Lieutenant Katheryn Donaldson, Britannian RAF."

"Well then, seeing as we've all been introduced, I'd like to, somewhat, formally welcome you to the 710th Joint Fighter Wing!" Viktoria announced,

"Otherwise known as the 'Fearless Witches'." Erika added,

"The 'Fearless Witches'?" Ellie said, raising an eyebrow,

"That sounds awesome." Charlotte added, grinning,

"Glad you like it." Erika said,

"Now that we're all here," Viktoria said, "How about we get back to the main building and into the warmth."

After a chorus of agreement and an enthusiastic 'Hell yes!' from Charlotte, the squadron exited the freezing hangar building and made their way across the frosty, snow covered ground towards a two storied 1960s era building,

"So, Colonel." Katheryn asked, catching up to her commander,

"Just call me Viktoria, please." Viktoria replied, smiling at the Britannian witch,

"Oh, uh, Viktoria then," Katheryn continued, "If you don't mind me asking, why's this place so old and worn down?"

"Well, the base was originally constructed in the late forties to test the cold weather capabilities of 'top secret experimental aircraft', you know, that sort of stuff, but it fell into disuse in the early seventies and it was eventually abandoned until a few months ago when myself and Erika were sent here."

"Why was it abandoned? Did the Orussians find out about it?"

"I don't think so, as far as I'm aware command just moved the testing unit as this airfield was just less popular with them than the Forscherberge airbase, which is about twice the size of this one."

"That's still a pretty small base." Katheryn said, looking around the airfield. Aside from the main building and the two hangars, there was a air traffic control tower and a few workshop buildings surrounding the main building, all of which were showing their age,

"Yeah, but still, command works in weird ways." Viktoria sighed,

"You can say that again," Katheryn muttered, "I was meant to be switching strikers and joining a Royal Navy unit until command decided to send me here," she gestured to the barren landscape outside the airfield, "To the middle of bloody nowhere!"

"Haha!" Viktoria laughed, "I was commanding my own squadron in Karlsland when they suddenly decided to send me here, bit of a weird decision if you ask me seeing as I had only commanded the squadron for month."

Katheryn laughed,

"Sometimes I wonder if command actually have any idea what they're doing."

"You can say that again."

The squadron reached the front doors of the the main building and the extent of the damage caused by years of abandonment was now apparent. The metal window frames were almost entirely rusted and the wooden doors of the building were slightly rotted. The small 'garden' at the front entrance was heavily overgrown with what little vegetation grew there and the concrete path leading up to the building was so cracked and broken that it could almost be confused for a cobblestone path if you didn't look carefully. The paint on some of the wooden features had began to fade after suffering years of heavy South Atlantic rainfall.

A large stone sign once proudly displayed the words, 'Welcome to Kaltefeldstadt Air Force Base.' But now many of the letters had fallen off and lay scattered on the ground,

"Welcome to your new home, ladies." Erika said, waving her hand towards the building,

"No offense, ma'a-I mean Erika," Ellie started, "But this place is kind of a dump."

"None taken," Erika replied, "But don't worry, the west wing has held up pretty well and in all honesty it's quite average for a military base."

"What about the rest of the building?" Ellie asked,

"Yeah, don't go there, well the east wing anyway, the main part is fine but the east wing's too dangerous."

"Too dangerous?" Eliza asked,

"Much of the supporting structures are heavily rusted and we're terrified about them breaking," Viktoria explained, "As such, we've decided to just close off that entire wing to prevent any possible injuries."

The witches nodded, accepting their commander's explanation,

"Anyhow, how about we show you to your rooms and give you a little tour?" Erika offered,

"Sounds great." Charlotte answered,

"Good idea." Justine said,

The rest nodded and gave a mumble of agreement.

Viktoria and Erika lead the squadron through the intact part of the building which, to the witches' suprise and in complete contrast to the exterior of the building, as it was quite well looked after. They were shown the offices and the kitchen and canteen area on the ground floor, and the excessive amount of bedrooms on the second floor of the west wing, only four of which were actually furnished. The top floor of the main part was reserved for the commander's office which Erika and Viktoria shared. The group returned to the second floor and began to organise where they would sleep and who they would share a room with,

"Naturally, myself and Erika will share a room seeing as we're the only Karlslanders here." Viktoria decided,

"We'll share as well then," Katheryn said, gesturing to Eliza, and receiving a nod of agreement, "We're both Britannian after all."

"I guess we'll share then," Ellie said, standing beside Charlotte, "Seeing as we're sticking with nationalities."

Justine turned to Lucie, "I guess we're sharing then, seeing as we're the only two left, _mon amie_."

"Right then, it's settled," Viktoria said, "Go and grab your bags from hangar two and set about choosing your rooms, you have two hours."

"Yes, ma'am!" The squadron yelled, saluting, before running off immediately afterwards,

"They're not really getting the hang of this no-saluting thing are they?" Erika asked Viktoria,

"We'll get there eventually." She replied, smiling.

* * *

The group entered the second hangar and began to grab their bags and other belongings which had been neatly laid out by the now absent C-130's crew, their array of strikers lined up against the back wall, waiting to be moved to a more suitable position,

The air in the hangar was just as cold as the bitter air outside and nobody felt this more than Charlotte who began to search for her coat,

"Where the hell is it?" She said, tipping the contents of her bag onto the floor and looking into the interior of her now empty bag, "I swear I put it in here somewhere."

She continued to frantically search through her bag but returned empty handed,

"Oh god, please don't say that I've lost it." Charlotte muttered to herself,

"Wow, you must be really cold if you're that desperate to find your coat." Katheryn remarked,

"Hell yeah I am, well, that's part of the reason anyway," Charlotte replied, still searching, "Hey can you guys be on the lookout for a tiger stripe pattern jacket?"

"Does it look like this one?" Justine asked, sweeping a jacket off of the floor and holding it out to her fellow witch,

"Yeah, that's it," Charlotte said, taking the jacket, "Thanks!"

"That's a nice jacket," Ellie told her, "Where'd you get get it?"

"It was my sisters," Charlotte quietly replied, "She wore it in Vietnam, but, uh, I'd rather not talk about that if that's cool with you guys."

"Yeah, no problem." Katheryn said, "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

"We've only just met each other, as well," Eliza stated, "And, I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't expect anybody to tell strangers their entire life story."

The rest of the witches nodded in agreement,

"Thanks guys," Charlotte replied, pulling the jacket on over her dress uniform, "Eh, it's a bit warmer."

"Anything's better than nothing, right?" Katheryn said,

"You got that right."

The group looked around the hangar, noticing the strikers near the back wall,

"Oh hey, there's our strikers." Lucie pointed out,

"Cool, anybody want to show their's off?" Katheryn asked, receiving an enthusiastic response from her squadron-mates,

The group approached the first two striker units, both of which sported the markings of the Karlander Luftwaffe. Both were F4F Phantom strikers, one of which was painted in the usual grey and dark green striped pattern that the Luftwaffe used while the other one was plain grey. What was interesting about them was, not only the kill markers which were quite impressive, but rather the personal touches that they had. The first striker unit had its front part up to the 'cockpit' painted yellow while the other had a black stripe running across each wing,

"These must be Colonel Baer's and Lieutenant von Falke's strikers." Eliza theorised,

"I thought we were meant to call them Viktoria and Erika?" Justine pointed out, sarcastically,

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's going to take a while for me to get used to that."

"Ha, yeah. Anyway, back to the strikers," Justine replied, "They've got good taste in striker units."

"And in guns," Charlotte added, gesturing to the weapons mounted on the launcher system, "A HK11 and an MG3? Great choices."

They moved onto the next striker unit, which happened to belong to Ellie,

"Well, it looks like I get to brag first," She said, smiling and putting her hand on her striker unit, "This is the striker version of the F-14 Tomcat, it was originally designed for use on a carrier but here it's going to be operating on land. The wings are pretty special as they can vary the angle that they're at meaning that I can increase my top speed."

The striker was painted in a dull grey colour that was favoured by the Liberion Navy and the vertical stabilisers were painted black with a yellow outline with a logo of an eagle proudly displayed on both,

"Nice," Justine said, "What guns do you use?"

"For my main weapon I use this M16," Ellie said, gesturing to said weapon, "But I've got an M9 as backup just in case. Anyway, who's next?"

"That would be me," Charlotte answered as the group moved onto the next striker unit, "Ladies, this is the A-10 Warthog ground attack striker, it may be kinda ugly looking but it is really fucking tough."

"How tough?" Katheryn asked,

"Let's just say I can keep flying after a direct hit from a Neuroi beam, so on gas it only hits one of the units."

The striker was painted in the grey of the Liberion Air Force and had a shark's mouth painted at the front end. The words 'Death from Above' were painted on the striker just behind the shark's mouth above a Texan flag,

Charlotte picked up a machine gun from the launch unit, "And this is my weapon, the M240b light machine gun. I've also got an M1911 as my sidearm." She added,

"Isn't the M240b just a modified FN MAG?" Lucie asked,

"Yeah, pretty much," Charlotte replied, returning her weapon to the launch unit, "And speaking of the FN MAG, it looks like the owner of the next striker uses one herself."

"That would be my FN MAG," Justine said as the group moved onto the next striker, "And by association, my striker too, the CF-18 Hornet."

"I thought that Farawayland didn't use the Hornet."

"We don't, or at least not yet anyway," Justine replied, "This is actually the first Hornet striker to be used by a Farawaylander and we're planning on introducing it by the end of the year."

Justine's striker was painted in the standard grey of the the Farawayland Air Force with very little personal touches aside from a blue fleur-de-lys painted on the front end of both units with the words ' _Tonnerre Québécois_ ' beneath it, also in blue,

"As for my other weapon," Justine said, unholstering her sidearm, "I've got a Browning Hi-Power."

"Same as me," Katheryn remarked, "Good choice."

The squadron moved onto the next striker unit,

"I guess it's my turn," Lucie said, approaching her striker, "I use the Mirage 2000 striker which, unlike your strikers, is delta winged as well as a prototype."

"They sent you all the way here with a prototype?" Eliza asked, bemused,

"Yes, it's a late stage prototype as the first jets and strikers are will be sent to the military in November."

"Fair enough."

Lucie turned to her launch unit and produced a bullpup rifle,

"This is the FAMAS assault rifle, my primary weapon, and this," She paused as she pulled out a handgun, "This is the M92 handgun, my secondary weapon."

"Is the FAMAS a prototype as well?" Ellie asked,

"No, it's been in service for a few years now."

"Oh, okay then," Ellie replied, "I've just never seen one before, I wasn't sure if anybody actually used it."

"The bullpup configuration is quite new," Lucie said, "The only other bullpup rifle in service is the AUG used by Ostmark's military. Anyway, shall we move on?"

The witches continued onto the fifth striker,

"I suppose it's my turn," Katheryn said, placing her hand onto the striker, "Ladies and gentlemen, well, just ladies, I give you the Tornado GR.1 striker unit."

Katheryn's striker was painted in the regular grey-green striped camouflage common on RAF aircraft with an image of a magpie painted near the the front of both units above the inscription ' _Tyneside Warrior_ ' beneath it,

"Much like Ellie's Tomcat, my Tornado has can change the angle at which the wings are swept, allowing me to increase my top speed."

"Copycat." Ellie joked,

"You wish," Katheryn replied, also joking, "Anyway, I use the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle as my primary weapon and, as I mentioned before, I use the Browning Hi-Power as my secondary weapon."

"Copycat." Justine said,

"Oh, don't you start as well," Katheryn muttered, receiving a laugh from the rest of the group, "Anyway, Eliza, you're next."

"Alright then," Eliza said, stepping towards her striker, "I've been issued the Sea Harrier striker unit which the Royal Navy uses. Why have I, a member of the RAF, been given one? I don't know, I just have."

The Sea Harrier was painted with the blue fuselage and white underside that the Royal Navy favoured and featured a white silhouette of a puma on the vertical stabilisers,

"And now for the fun part," Eliza said, grinning as she pulled a gun off of her launch unit, "This is the FN Minimi light machine gun, one hell of a weapon if I do say so myself, and as for my sidearm," she paused as she produced a handgun,

"The Mauser C96, this one used to belong to a relative who fought in the First World War against the Neuroi, although I'm not quite sure how I'm related to them."

"Doesn't matter, you get a cool gun out of it." Charlotte said,

"Heh, I guess so."

"Anyway," Ellie said, "We should probably grab our stuff and get back to the main building, we've been here for quite a while."

"Agreed," Katheryn replied, nodding, "The sooner I get to lay in a proper bed the better."

"Can't argue with you there." Justine joked,

The group gathered up their bags and once again made the journey across the snowy asphalt towards the main building, leaving nothing behind but their footprints, weapons and strikers. The light snowfall had fully ceased and the air was, for once, clear, allowing the witches to gaze across the South Atlantic Ocean, it's black waves crashing against each other as though they were locked in an eternal war. The witches could help but to relate this to humanity's own eternal war against the Neuroi.

As they reached the main building, a siren began to wail across the entire airbase,

"What the fuck?" Justine muttered,

The doors to the main building slammed open and Erika stormed out of them, placing a HUD system and communication device on her head,

"We have Neuroi inbound." She half-yelled at the witches, "I need three volunteers to help fight these bastards!"

Katheryn, Charlotte and Justine quickly raised their hands, dropping their bags into the thin snow,

"Alright, you three get to the hangar and start preparing for take off, the rest of you go join Viktoria in the tower, let's move!"

The witches went their separate ways as ordered. Katheryn, Charlotte and Justine ran along side Erika back towards the hangar. Charlotte kicked open the door and the witches scrambled towards their strikers.

Katheryn temporarily removed her beret to allow for the HUD system before placing it back on her head and putting the communications device on over it. Her familiar kicked in as she climbed into her striker and grabbed her L1A1, allowing the Tornado's engines to spin up before joining the other witches in taxiing towards the base's sole runway,

"Who's ready for some action?" Erika asked the witches as the reached the runway, recieving enthusiastic responses from each witch,

"Hell yeah!" Katheryn yelled over the roar of the engines,

"Let's kick some ass!" Charlotte shouted, also fighting the noise of the striker's engines,

"I was born ready!" Justine replied, suffering the same challenge as the others,

"Then let's fucking do this!" Erika yelled, "Tower this is Eagle 1-1, requesting permission to takeoff."

"Eagle 1-1?" Charlotte asked, her slightly amused voice now being carried over the communication device's radio,

"Yeah, it's our callsign," Erika explained, "We're going to sort them out later but for this mission we're just going to Eagle 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4." She pointed at each witch in order,

"Eagle 1-1, this is tower," Came Viktoria's voice through the communication device, "You are cleared for take off."

"Thanks, Vik!" Erika replied before turning to the squad mates accompanying her, "You ready?" She asked,

If she had received a response from any of the other witches then she didn't know as the roar of the jet engines became too loud and the witches began to increase the speed on their strikers as they slowly began to rise from the ground.

This was it.

The first combat mission of the 710th Joint Fighter Wing.

The first flight of the 'Fearless Witches'.

The start of humanity's stand against the Neuroi.

* * *

 **So, yeah, there it is. The first chapter of 'Strike Witches: 1982', a story following the newly formed 710th Joint Fighter Wing otherwise known as the 'Fearless Witches'.**

 **Thank you for taking time to read this and if you have any questions regarding the characters, the setting or just the story in general than feel free to leave a review and I'll try my best to reply and explain. :-)**

 **(Note:** **Due to the fact that the world of Strike Witches doesn't really have a version of Argentina as it has been replaced with Neue Karlsland, I'm trying to figure out a way to add some 'Argentinian' characters into the story. I'll most likely have them be descendants of Hispanian settlers who fight for Neue Karlsland but I'm open to ideas at the moment.)**


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